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February 2023 newsletter
Your monthly update on all things Inclusion Barnet, as well as local and national goings-on which impact the lives of disabled people in Barnet, including people with mental health issues and long-term conditions.
The latest from our CEO, Caroline Collier
Welcome to the February edition of the Inclusion Barnet newsletter. I hope you all managed to keep warm and well in January. At Inclusion Barnet, we’ve had an interesting month, including four focus groups to understand what non-disabled people think about disability. That was an interesting listen, because people are generally supportive, but really do not understand the Social Model of Disability (the theory that we work to, which suggests that disability is caused by barriers in society which we must work to dismantle) or disabled people’s organisations. This work will feed into a strategic communications project we’re working on with partners to understand what messaging will best encourage people to get behind the cause of disability rights.
We also held an interesting equalities meeting about people’s barriers to accessing healthcare, and are having a meeting with the Royal Free this week to see how the learning can feed into improve processes in the future.
We’re also growing as an organsiation with a few new starters this month, so we are well placed to continue to deliver local services whilst continuing the campaign for disability rights.
Wishing you all a good February!
Caroline Collier
Chief Executive Officer
Get involved!
Healthy Heart update
Our Healthy Heart team have been busy meeting Jain community members over the past month, checking blood pressures and registering people for our next free training course.
They’ve also delivered their first training session at the West Hendon Islamic Centre, and returned to the Barnet African Caribbean Association to find out how everyone has been getting on since their last training course. They plan to catch up with the Centre of Excellence later this month.
We are so proud of our small team, Judi, Riffat and Salna and of all the people who have taken the opportunity to join the courses to invest in their future health. If you are of African, Caribbean or South Asian heritage and are interested in finding out more about our free Healthy Heart Courses, learn about the risks of high blood pressure and how to manage it, please visit our website page get in touch.
Healthwatch hypertension awareness
Our Healthwatch team were out at the Stonegrove Community Centre over the weekend giving free blood pressure checks and talking to people about the importance of doing this. Our Community Connectors; Patrick, Chloe, Doug and Daniel did over 60 blood pressure checks for members of the public!
This is all part of our Hypertension project that is being undertaken across the North Central London Region by our neighbouring Healthwatch. It is funded by Integrated Care Barnet and seeks to promote the need for regular blood pressure checks to prevent a range of related conditions.
Inclusion Barnet news
Goodbyes and welcomes!
We were sad to say goodbye to our Deputy CEO Rebecca Sare last month. Rebecca has left us to pursue her psychotherapy practice full-time. She has played an invaluable role in building our organisation over the past five years and she will be very much missed by all of us. However, there is a plot twist... she is staying on as Director of our trading arm Inclusion Unlimited so, happily, this is au revoir and not goodbye.
As our organisation has grown, we are delighted to have welcomed two new senior team members, Samihah (Sami) Read as Head of Consultancy Services for Inclusion Unlimited, and Keely Parnaby as our Head of Peer Services. Poppy Ingles-Oxley also joins our Healthwatch team as Communication Officer today! They’ll be more about all of them in the next issue.
Nina Kazmi also joined us in January as a Peer Support Worker, our newest member of the Touchpoint team. Nina is great at problem-solving, and using her own experience of inaccessibility to support our customers. She is passionate about being an advocate of social change to enable others in their daily lives and we are delighted to welcome her to Inclusion Barnet.
Vacancies
Healthwatch Manager
We are on the lookout for a new manager to run our Healthwatch team as Banos heads off in a few months’ time to focus on research work.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone with lived experience of disability (which could include a long term condition or mental health issue) to lead a small team in the delivery of Barnet’s statutory Healthwatch function.
The role offers a salary scale of £37,500 – £39,000 per year, or pro rata for part time. You’ll be based in our Colindale office, and able to attend meetings across Barnet, but with extensive opportunities for home working.
Closing date: 2nd March 2023 at 23:30
Healthwatch Volunteer Coordinator
We also have a vacancy for a part-time Volunteer Coordinator on the Healthwatch team.
The role will ensure that Healthwatch Barnet operates as an effective public advocate and performs the key functions required by the contract.
It’s for 28 hours per week with a salary scale: £27,200 – (pro rata £34,000).
Applications close on 28th February 2023.
Grange Big Local
We are looking to recruit a part-time Communications and Administration Officer role to play a key part in driving forward our Grange Big Local project.
At Grange Big Local it is our mission to promote a thriving and caring community in our patch of East Finchley, where our residents can flourish, our environment can blossom, and our economy can grow.
If you’re great at connecting with people and looking for an opportunity to showcase and develop your comms and administration skills, then why not apply today?
Fully remote working, 21 hours per week, £25,000 pro-rata.
Applications close 5th March 2023.
Meet our team
Yosra Elhamamy (she/her)
Touchpoint Peer Enquiries Worker
1. What is the main thing you are working on right now?
Right now, I am working on completing various trainings available to me, by Inclusion Barnet and external organisations, so that I can be best prepared to support customers, and put my new knowledge into practice.
2. What motivates you in your current role?
It motivates me knowing that IB wanted someone who experiences disability and long-term health conditions to apply to their organisation. I want to shout out about this from the rooftops (not literally, I am scared of heights!). It really changed something in me, and when I was offered this role I wanted to cry. I felt so grateful, thankful and honoured to be part of such an organisation, it such as blessing.
I'm glad that I will be able to support disabled people, with my added insight of having extensive health issues and experience of disability. I can be a role model when I meet new disabled people and know how best to support them to get them to where they want to be in life. I did not know what Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPO) were before this job, but knowing that the organisation is run by disabled people, with the necessary adjustments put in place, makes all the difference to me.
We know that in employment and wider society, disabled people are under-represented, and so by Inclusion Barnet changing this, it shows that wider society and other employers can do it too. Inclusion Barnet is definitely a force for change, and I am so grateful and blessed to be a small part of this positive change and impact on adult residents, as well as wider society and all that that encompasses.
3. The best thing about working at Inclusion Barnet?
So far, my favourite thing is how eager and passionate staff are about providing the best and right support they can. They've worked hard to make sure my accessibility needs are met. In addition, the diversity of the range of people working at IB and what they all bring to the team; it has been fascinating to me to listen to their stories and how they came to join Inclusion Barnet. Every single person is truly valued, cared for and supported, from what I can see, from the top down and bottom up, which is so beautiful to see.
4. Favourite way to spend time when you’re not working?
There are a range of things I like to do, such as meeting up with friends and trying out new restaurants, and more recently since last year, going to the theatre with friends and seeing various different shows; travelling, which is rare for me to do, so staycations are on my to-do-list for this year onwards! Reading on various topics and making sure I understand them, to keep my mind sharp and to pass on the knowledge I have learnt onto others, as teaching is the best form of retaining that information and creates for some very interesting conversations/opinions and debates with others.
Top Ally Tips
Every week in our team meetings we share accessibility and disability awareness tips with one another. Our lived experience of disability amongst the team is very diverse and it’s great to be able to share some of our top picks with you here. Do let us know what you think.
1. Keep it simple. A resource by The Plain English Campaign is fighting for a world free of jargon, acronyms and gobbledegook! The Plain English Campaign has a handy PDF online with simple alternatives for complex words.
2. A named contact for accessibility info. If you’re organising or promoting an event, provide contact details for a named ‘Accessibility Contact’ who knows about the venue and can answer questions about what reasonable adjustments can be made.
3. Avoid using small text in documents. Make sure your documents and spreadsheets avoid using tiny texts as it is difficult to read and understand them. Partial sight is not always obvious, so it’s best not to assume. 12pt minimum font size in a clear font type, such as Arial, Calibri or Century Gothic, is a good benchmark. Green and yellow are also not great on white background is also difficult to see.
Community events & activities
If you run, or know of any, local accessible activities or events in Barnet and the surrounding areas please tell us about them! We’d love to include things that have either been designed with disabled people mind or includes specific accessibility info and is free or heavily subsidised: info@inclusionbarnet.org.uk,
Our visits to Barnet's community centres
Throughout January, our Community and Engagement Officer Sarah has visited lots of community centres in Barnet to find out about the activities they offer and what accessibility measures they offer to disabled residents. All of them were super friendly and welcoming.
Here’s a roundup of where we’ve been so far…
At the start of January, we visited Watling Community Centre, which hosts a whole range of activities, such as lunch clubs, yoga and Pilates and the Ashrey class for people with special educational needs. The centre has step-free access and an accessible toilet.
Then we popped into Colindale Communities Trust near our office and chatted with people at their Coffee Morning, which takes place on a Thursday 10am-12pm. The centre is wheelchair accessible, with accessible toilets, but please note, some of the paving outside the centre on the Grahame Park estate is quite uneven.
This week, we visited Tarling Road Community Hub, which is looking to start some fun activities like a community vegetable garden, yoga and a games night. The centre has two accessible toilets, an evacuation chair, and is wheelchair accessible.
It was great to chat to local residents at each of the centres about what we do and how they can join our network of local disabled people. If any of these centres are local to you, feel free to get in touch via their websites, as the centre managers were all keen to welcome new faces and work with you to make sure the venues are accessible to you.
Campaigns, consultations and more
Step-free redevelopment of Colindale Tube Station
We were delighted to learn that the redevelopment of Colindale Tube station will deliver step-free access with a 17-person lift and improved access routes to the station enabling spontaneous and independent travel for disabled people!
We, along with other Community Organisations in the borough, supported the joint bid by Transport for London and Barnet Council last July in their £29.5m bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF).
Barnet Council is now working with TfL to ensure that construction on the station improvements can begin as quickly as possible this year. We’ll keep you posted!
Accessible and inclusive play space - consultation
Barnet Council would like to know what you think of the equipment and layout proposed for a new inclusive playground planned in Victoria Recreation Ground.
The design includes sensory equipment, including Braille, sign language and communication play panels, multi games unit, a quiet hang out space, wheelchair accessible equipment and more.
You can look at the plans on the Engage Barnet page of the Council Website and use their links to complete the consultation survey. There is also a contact number on there if you’d like more information about the project.
Note: A third party approached the Council to find a suitable site. The third party will develop and fund the idea which will cost around £500,000. The council will make a contribution toward the cost.
The consultation closes on 5 March 2023.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion Policy Barnet - consultation (£50 payment)
Barnet Council are holding resident workshops between 22 February to 28 February 2023. This is your opportunity for you to tell them about your ideas on what the council needs to focus on in terms equalities diversity and inclusion in Barnet. They are also offering residents who attend the workshops a £50 online shopping voucher.
Registration for the workshops close on 16 February 2023
Barnet Carers Strategy - Consultation
Barnet Council would like to hear your thoughts and comments on their new Carers Strategy, that was developed with Barnet Carers Centre and included direct involvement of over 300 young and adult carers. They are particularly interested in your views on the over-arching priorities to guide our action planning.
Consultation closes 23rd February 2023
Barnet five-year Dementia Strategy
Barnet Council would like to hear your thoughts and comments on their strategy to provide high-quality care and support for people with dementia and their carers. Their priorities focus on improved information and advice, early diagnosis and more tailored support for individuals. What do you think about that?
Consultation closes 22 February 2023
About us
Inclusion Barnet services
Have you heard about some of the other community services that we run? Click on the logos or buttons for more information.
Independent Living Centre, c/o Barnet & Southgate College,
7 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, London NW9 4BR
Inclusion Barnet is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
Registered Charity Number: 1158632
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